KBR Education Engine

Creative Optimisation 101

Improve digital ad performance with smarter design, testing, and rotation tailored to New Zealand.

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Why Creative Still Wins

Media gets you seen, creative gets you chosen

Creative quality can account for the majority of performance; most teams underinvest in testing and rotation.

Shift effort toward systematic creative optimisation to unlock ROI gains.

What Creative Optimisation Means

Performance-driven design

Every element serves an action and a metric.

Systematic testing

Structured A/Bs with hypotheses and roadmaps.

Data-driven improvement

Read patterns behind winners, not just surface KPIs.

Strategic alignment

Match platform, audience, and funnel stage.

Why It Matters in NZ

  • Smaller audiences drive higher CPMs — every impression must work harder.
  • Fatigue hits faster — rotate assets more often.
  • Local tone/visuals matter — adapt global assets for NZ nuance.

Core Formats to Optimise

Static

Versatile; quick message delivery; low production cost.

Video

Highest engagement; build 6s/15s/30s variants.

HTML5/Rich

Interactive; test across devices; higher dwell.

DCO

Personalised variants by data, region, and behaviour.

Native

Blends with content; raises trust and engagement.

What Affects Creative Performance

  • Asset quality, message clarity, and strong CTAs.
  • Format fit and file weight/load speed.
  • Relevance to audience and context.
  • Exposure recency/frequency and rotation hygiene.

Metrics That Matter

  • CTR for resonance.
  • VCR and drop-off curves for video.
  • Viewability + attention (time-in-view/scroll).
  • Dwell & interactions to gauge engagement depth.
  • Post-click quality: bounce, time, pages, CVR.

Static Ad Best Practices

  • Keep copy concise; logo in first frame.
  • High-contrast CTA; avoid excessive text (esp. Meta).
  • Refresh every 2–3 weeks or when fatigue hits.

Video Ad Best Practices

  • Hook in first 3s; captions for sound-off.
  • Use 6–15–30s ladders; show value prop early.
  • Test endings/CTAs to lift completion and action.

HTML5 & Rich Media Tips

Polite loading, exit URLs/click tags, responsive builds, 15–30s animation limits, rigorous compression and QA across devices.

DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimisation)

Modular templates + audience triggers + feed/rules logic = personalised ads at scale. Ideal for multi-region, multi-offer, and retargeting.

Platform-Specific Needs

Meta

1:1 or 4:5; minimal text; mobile-first; 9:16 for Stories.

TikTok

Native lo-fi; hook in 1–2s; creator collabs; captions.

YouTube

Brand in first 5s; skip-proof hook; end card with CTA.

Display

Multiple sizes; <150KB; contrast; backup static.

Native

Headline/copy match; authentic imagery; concise.

LinkedIn

Professional tone; pain-point messaging; clear value.

Frequency & Rotation Strategy

  • Target ~3–8 frequency; rotate weekly/fortnightly.
  • Use naming hygiene and a “freshness” calendar.
  • Trigger swaps on CTR decline or rising CPM/CPL.

Creative Testing Structures

  • A/B: one variable at a time for clean reads.
  • Multi-cell: parallel variants (needs more volume).
  • Creative ladders: sequence awareness → action.

Reading Performance Data

  • Blend platform analytics with DV/MOAT/IAS for verification.
  • Segment by asset/format/device/audience/placement.
  • Watch fatigue signals and compare cross-channel.
  • Use path analysis and timeframe reads for scheduling.

Optimising to the Funnel

Awareness

Brand/story; emotional hooks; broad reach.

Consideration

Benefits, USPs, social proof; educate to build trust.

Conversion

Offer clarity, urgency, objections handled; strong CTA.

Common Mistakes

  • Running global creative without NZ adaptation.
  • Not testing messaging variants.
  • Reusing the same asset across channels.
  • Ignoring creative in performance analysis.
  • Leaving assets live too long (fatigue).

Tools to Support Optimisation

Adform Creative Studio (DCO)

Personalised templates at scale.

Google Ads Asset Reports

Combination insights for RSA/asset wins.

Meta Creative Reporting

Variant reads with demo/placement splits.

DV / MOAT attention

Viewability + attention quality verification.

Looker Studio

Creative dashboards and story-telling.

How KBR Helps

Feedback loops & insights

Turn raw data into creative actions and hypotheses.

Dynamic template design

Flexible systems for rapid variant testing.

Rotation & testing frameworks

Cadence, rules, naming, and QA baked in.

Education & enablement

Teach teams how to read and optimise creative performance.

Want Better Performing Ads?

We’ll review your assets, highlight what’s working, and build a rotation + testing model that lifts results.